Michael Waltrip is solidly in the top 10

Posted: Friday, June 13, 2003

By Morris News Service

Michael Waltrip won the season-opening Daytona 500. Since all three of his career wins have come at Daytona International Speedway, it was hardly a surprise. But he's remained solidly in the top 10 in the standings since, proving he's becoming more of an accomplished racer.

ATLANTA - Michael Waltrip won the season-opening Daytona 500. Since all three of his career wins have come at Daytona International Speedway, it was hardly a surprise. But he's remained solidly in the top 10 in the standings since, proving he's becoming more of an accomplished racer. Waltrip recently took time to talk about his season and a variety of safety issues.

Q: Does the Michigan International Speedway suit your driving style?

A: "We won the Busch race there last August and sat on the outside pole for that race. Michigan is a place where I have an understanding of what you need to go fast. I'm looking forward to going there. We've had a couple of rough weeks. Dover and Pocono didn't go anything like we had imagined. So we're looking forward to a place where we've had success and getting back on track."

Q: With Sunday's race falling on Father's Day, what are your feelings about spending 38 racing weekends away from home?

A: "Well, I'm just fortunate. I don't spend any time away from my family because they go everywhere. We have a motor home at every racetrack and we take the girls and my wife and we just load up. That's the best part about my job. Sometimes at home, the house is big and you've got a thousand things you need to be doing and you're running in 10 different directions. When we go to the races, we stay in the motor home in 500-600 square feet. You get a lot of time to interact with your kids and enjoy your family. So racing actually brings our family much closer together than probably most families."

Q: Ken Schrader and Dale Jarrett both were involved in fiery crashes at Pocono last Sunday. What else can be done to improve the safety of the cars during a fire?

A: "Actually what you saw on Sunday were two examples of wrecks that happened right at the start of the race, which was Schrader's case, or right after a pit stop, which was Dale Jarrett's case. There was just a lot of fuel back there. We carry 22 gallons of gasoline in our cells. It probably had 20 gallons in it. That's not what caught on fire. It was the fuel in the fuel line or the overflow line that just burned a little bit. The main thing they can do to help us in the case of a fire is to make the cars easier to get out of. The cars are too small. The window is too hard to get out of. That's what needs to be addressed. If you're in a wreck and you give me a choice of which end I want to hit, I'll take the back end every time. There's a lot of cushion back there. A lot of that stuff bends down and gives. It takes away a lot of the energy and in return, makes the ride that you have to take much easier."

Q: At 6-foot-5 you're the tallest driver on the circuit. What do you think about NASCAR's research into an escape hatch in the car's roof and how close are they to perfecting it?

A: "They're working on it. That's really all I know about that. Hopefully by the end of this year or by 2004 they'll have that as a part of our car. I've heard that a lot of progress has been made in that area."

Q: Another issue this year has been carbon monoxide poisoning. Are you concerned about it?

A: "I'm probably not as concerned as I should be. I think it's really the team's job to do everything they can to fill in every crack in the car and make you as safe from your own car as you can possibly be. Obviously when you have 40 cars running around in a pack, you're going to breathe air off those other cars. But you need to fill (seal) your car up and make it as safe as it can possibly be. My team does a great job at that. I've never really felt ill or weird after a race. But I'm looking forward to knowing that the air I'm going to breathe is going to be safer and better with the carbon monoxide filters that we're going to run."

Q: Michigan is famous for being wide and fast. What is it like to go three- and four-wide in the turns?

A: "It's fun. It's just cool that you have options. That's all you want as a race car driver. You want to have somewhere to pass. If a guy is ahead of you, you want to get around him. You don't want to be in jail (so to speak) like you are at some racetracks where there's just nowhere to go and the guy is running the line you need to be in. At Michigan, if someone is running in your line, you just pick another one."